1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for preparing a shaped calcium silicate product. More particularly, it relates to a process for preparing a shaped calcium silicate product which has low bulk density and excellent mechanical strength and is suitable as a lagging product or a heat insulator.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
It has been known to prepare calcium silicate products by the following processes.
(1) A slurry is prepared by dispersing and mixing a siliceous source and a calcareous source and optionally inorganic materials such as clay, asbestos with water and the slurry is poured into a mold and cured in an autoclave (steam curing) and the cured product is taken out from the mold and dried.
(2) The slurry prepared by the process (1) is heated at 80.degree. to 100.degree. C. to obtain a gel and the gel is poured into a mold and molded by a press filter-molding and the product is taken out from the mold and cured in an autoclave by directly feeding steam (steam curing) and then, is dried.
(3) The slurry prepared by the process (1) is heated under higher pressure with stirring to crystallize and the resulting slurry containing crystalline calcium silicate hydrate is poured into a mold and the product is molded by a press filter-molding and taken out from the mold and dried.
When a calcium silicate product is used as a lagging product or a heat insulator, it is usually necessary to have high porosity that is, low bulk density in order to obtain a product having low thermal conductivity. However in the conventional processes, it has been difficult to obtain a product having low bulk density and high mechanical strength.
The inventors have found that the process for preparing a calcium silicate shaped product by press filter molding an aqueous slurry of a specific calcium silicate hydrate and steam-curing the molded product to transform the calcium silicate hydrate crystal, is effective to attain the desired process and have proposed in Japanese Patent Application 63621/1977 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,193,958.
The inventors have further studied to improve this process and have found that when the molded product obtained by press filter-molding is cured in a closed tank by dry-heating without feeding steam, uneven pressure and strain caused by the press filter molding are gradually released without sudden expansion of the molded product whereby a calcium silicate shaped product having excellent property without any crack can be prepared in stable operation.